Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Could be worth waiting for Alun's review of the Mitas when he gets back from the Elefant Treffen.

I also personally really rate the Trellborg Swedish Army tyres on anything up to a 650... but that is based on running them on the KLR range. (250/600/650) They quite good on a wet road as long as you don't push it too hard, and really positive in most soft and rocky off piste conditions. Not a really amazing mud tyre but has been possible to make progress without stopping all the time to clear the tyre.

xr650rbaja wrote: Choice is either Cont TCK-80's or Pirelli MT21's the reviews and comments on forums are endless with it coming out 6 of one & half a dozen of the other.

It's hard to pick a winner!

TKCs are good on the road (for a trail tyre) and not bad off road except in mud. I've done some fairly serious trail riding with MT21s and they are pretty good but as others say, they wear quickly and for off road use they stop working when about half worn.

Deserts are expensive but I've heard give really good mileage so may be worth the extra.

I used TCK`s in Morocco last april took Bike down in a van to Spain so i had new tyre over there thought they worked well good in the twist`s .
Off road they again worked well. we had one puncher ,but if you push them the rear only lasted 18 days but i did go out to have some fun :laugh:
I was on a KTM 990

ChasF wrote:
Deserts are expensive but I've heard give really good mileage so may be worth the extra.

I knew I had this picture around somewhere, just tracked it down. Both of these tyres had done about the same distance (round about 4000 miles) and both were used on 600 single trail bikes. The one on the left is a Michelin Desert, the one on the right is an MT21.

The MT21 was about half the price of the Desert so miles per £ isn't that different but on a long trip using the Desert saves having to carry a second tyre.

scouse wrote:Could be worth waiting for Alun's review of the Mitas when he gets back from the Elefant Treffen.

For the first 40 miles I wasn't sure I was going to be around to write any sort of review on the Mitas. I managed to lock the front and back more times than I'd done in the last 30 years and they were just plain scary on tarmac - on saying that they were new and the road was wet and greasy.

By the time I'd arrived at Dover things were looking and feeling a lot better and 70mph on the motorways was stress free. And so it continued for the next 800 miles to Bavaria through damp, dry and seriously cold conditions.

At the Elephant I was able to ride the Tiger to a camping spot I'd never have reached on road based tyres through deep mud, snow and ice.

On the return I met up with a couple of guys from Blackpool and we cruised at speeds between 85 and 100 for most of the way back. The Mitas were fine, even on fast motorway bends where it was best not to think how much rubber was in contact with the road. I was experiencing the odd weave and crossing the more protruding white lines was, er, entertaining.

After 1900 miles they look a little worn, but that's it. There's plenty of life left in the Mitas and I'm very impressed. The price looks keen too.